Veteran NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster pilot Darvin Martinets and the Main & Martinets Motorsports/DragRaceHose.com team will be gunning for a berth on the prestigous Jeg's Sportsman All-Star Team during this weekend's Division 4 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at the Texas Motorplex just south of Dallas.  Martinets enters the final event to earn points towards the All-Star team a mere 32 points out of first and needs to at least make the finals to overtake Brandon Pierce and Spencer Massey.
 
Martinets, from Lake Jackson, Texas, has a cautious optimism going into this weekend's event.  While the Will Hanna tuned machine has ran good numbers in qualifying, the team's opponent has stepped up to run low elapsed time of the round at both of the races they have attended.  Still, Martinets cites he has always had luck on his side at the Texas Motorplex.  The last time Martinets competed there, they reached the finals of last year's O'Reilly Fall Nationals in September. Veteran NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster pilot Darvin Martinets and the Main & Martinets Motorsports/DragRaceHose.com team will be gunning for a berth on the prestigous Jeg's Sportsman All-Star Team during this weekend's Division 4 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at the Texas Motorplex just south of Dallas.  Martinets enters the final event to earn points towards the All-Star team a mere 32 points out of first and needs to at least make the finals to overtake Brandon Pierce and Spencer Massey.
 
Martinets, from Lake Jackson, Texas, has a cautious optimism going into this weekend's event.  While the Will Hanna tuned machine has ran good numbers in qualifying, the team's opponent has stepped up to run low elapsed time of the round at both of the races they have attended.  Still, Martinets cites he has always had luck on his side at the Texas Motorplex.  The last time Martinets competed there, they reached the finals of last year's O'Reilly Fall Nationals in September.
 
"We just can't seem to catch a break this year," said Martinets.  "At the first race, the guy we raced hadn't made it down the track in qualifying then runs low e.t. of the meet against us, then in Houston a couple weeks ago, Reichert unloads a 5.28 against us, then falls off to a 5.41 in the next round.  Hopefully that will change this weekend.  I've always liked racing at the Motorplex.  I've always done well there, even back when I was bracket racing.  We made it to the finals there last year, hopefully we can do the same this weekend."
 
Team Owner Howie Main cites the team fought ignition problems in qualifying of their most recent event, the O'Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston.
 
"The car really fell off in qualifying," stated Main.  "We got in the show, but it had an intermittent miss in it that just got worse each session.  We finally changed enough components, we eliminated the problem, but as much as we changed, we're not 100% sure what the culprit was.  The car really woke up that last run.  Hopefully we can pick up where we left off in Houston and have a trouble-free weekend in Dallas."
 
Competitors in NHRA's sportsman classes can earn points to not only the national and divisional championships, but the Jeg's Sportsman All-Star Team, which has it's own points standings, and generally starts and ends at mid year.  The Jeg's Sportsman All-Star Race, which is held in conjunction with the Torco Race Fuels Nationals in Chicago, Jun. 5-8, takes the top points earners from each of NHRA's seven geographical divisions and pits them in a race to determine the All-Star Champion. 
 
"We basically have to make the final and hope Brandon Pierce doesn't make the final and Spencer Massey doesn't win," cited Martinets.  "With the caliber of cars in Division 4, that's a tall order, but we're definitely going to do everything in our power to get there.  Hopefully we can make a good showing for Pipe Tools, Cliff's Bits, DragRaceHose.com and Rislone."